Osprey Hill Farm is a family owned and operated farm that's located in a quiet corner of the South Fork Nooksack Valley in beautiful Whatcom County. We're committed to using natural farming principles and conservation measures as a part of our farm philosophy. Our mixed operation includes raising a variety of produce [culinary herbs, tubers, roots, leafy greens, tomatoes, & uncommon fruits] as well as livestock [eggs, chicken, duck, and lamb]. In addition to the farm, we run a sister business, Osprey Hill Butchery, which is a state licensed processing facility for small stock. With the combined strengths of our businesses, we're able to provide a top quality product with hand-crafted attention.

Practices

Osprey Hill Farm is committed to using natural farming principles. We believe that prevention is the best medicine. -If we feed our soil and treat it like the living ecosystem that it is, our plants will thrive. We use low to no till methods, feed our soil with our very own home-made compost, and anchor our nutrients in the soil using winter cover crops. The feeder material for our compost is hay from our fields, manure from our livestock, and chicken offal from our poultry processing facility. We generate all the starting ingredients for our compost so we know exactly what goes into it. We also avoid the use of rock and mineral additions to our compost. These ingredients are made commercially available through mining activities and this process puts our aquifers in danger. -Pests and predators can be a problem at times on any farm, but we maintain wild areas and encourage wildlife because they provide important checks and balances that keep pest populations from becoming infestations. Insects migrate just like birds do and when the veggie-loving insects are in town, we make sure to cover our crops with a protective blanket that lets sun and water in, but keeps the pests out. On rare occasion, when insect pressure is extremely high, we'll opt for a naturally derived, OMRI approved extract of organic neem oil.-We utilize our livestock to maximize their contribution on the farm--they provide a natural source of fertility and can be put to work on all sorts of "projects". The ducks like to root through the soil in the early spring while hunting for slug eggs. The sheep like to graze on the mid-length pasture grass and maintain it at just the right height for the chickens. The chickens follow the sheep through pasture rotations and benefit from the tender, young greens that are exposed by the sheep. All the manure additions boost the pasture growth and, by mid-summer, we can take a cutting of hay from field. The hay is used for bedding material in our laying hen coops, as mulch material on our garlic crops, and as winter feed for the sheep. Hey, we sure love a productive cycle here on the farm!!-Our chicken are sourced from a local hatchery 20 minutes from the farm. Our livestock feed is corn free, soy free, certified GM free, and sourced from WA state. We process our birds in our state licensed facility. We want to help the WA economy thrive and keep farms alive!